Welcome to the forth installment to my free short story, Forget Me Not. If you've followed along, I hope you've enjoyed it. If this is your first visit, well go back one week HERE and you will find links to all the past weeks.

Jenny took a step back, she couldn’t let him touch her. She would be a goner and the past eight years of hurt would be forgotten. “You couldn’t have missed me that much.”

Nick raked a hand across his clean shaven head. “You have no idea how wrong you are. There wasn’t a day or night that I didn’t think of you.”

“It’s been eight years, Nick. And not once did you write or call me. I’m sure you came home for holidays and saw your family. You never came to see me,” she snapped.

He kicked the sand with is feet and then turned to look out over the ocean. Her gaze followed his. It was a beautiful day, that was for sure. Not a cloud out and the sky was that perfect shade of blue. The waves were high, but looked pretty as they rolled in.

Jenny walked closer to the water and Nick. She couldn’t really help it, she was drawn to him. And the memories she had tried her to best forget, were creeping back up. Nick was a nice guy, he always had been. He’d treated her better than anyone ever had. She was so sure they would marry and at this point in her life, they might even have a child they would be bringing to just this spot. But that wasn’t what happened.

“I don’t mean to be so bitter,” she said. “But you just left. I had all these plans and you were in each and every one of them. I thought we would take on the world, just you and me. And when we finished conquering everything we could, we would settle down and start a family.”

“That’s why I left without a word.”

He didn’t want the same things? Why was her here now and telling her he was sorry. “You could’ve told me that. You didn’t have to just join the army and not even tell me.”

“It was what I thought was best.”

“Best for who? Best for me or you?”

“Us.”

Jenny let out an arrogant laugh. “You left thinking it was the best thing for us? Give me a break. Tell me how it was best?”

Nick reached out for her hand. Knowing she shouldn’t let him, but she did, he held his hand in his as he explained. “I wanted each of those with you too. But I didn’t want us to settle. I wanted us to see the world and experience life. Chances were you and I would have been that young couple out of high school with all these dreams, moved out, gotten a place, and then life would have started. You never would have done half of what you have if we’d been together.”

“I don’t care. I just wanted you Nick.”

“I know, and like I said, that is why I left. I wanted you to experience everything you could.”

Sighing loudly, she asked, “Why couldn’t you have discussed that with me?”

Pulling her a little closer, he said, “If you’d asked me to stay, I would’ve. I love you more than anything in life and I never could have left.”

“I just wish you had talked to me,” Jenny said.

“I still love you. I want to be with you.”

Jenny yanked her hand away. Sure he was saying all the right things, but he was a bit too late. “I’m sorry Nick, I can’t do this.”

She walked away. The tears soaked her lashed and then made their way down her cheeks. Walking away from Nick was harder then she thought it would be. She imagined what she felt, was ten times worse for him when he left for the Army. But who was he to decide her fate?